R. Nataraja Mudaliar

R. Nataraja Mudaliar Biography

Rangaswamy Nataraja Mudaliar is popularly referred to as ‘Father of Tamil Cinema’. He is credited as the first south Indian to make a feature film. He produced and directed first ever silent movie of south India - Keechaka Vadham released in 1918. As the cast and crew mostly consisted of Tamil people, Keechaka Vadham is credited as a Tamil film and hence R. Nataraja Mudaliar is known as ‘Father of Tamil Cinema’. But its prints are not available right now. He was a pioneer in film making in the silent era of movies. Though he was doing automobile spare parts business, he later entered the world of films as he was interested towards film making.

Mudaliar was born in Vellore in 1885. His family was financially sound. His father was a trader and after studies, Mudaliar too set up a business in Chennai. He started a bicycle business named "Watson & Company", aside his cousin which sold cycles at rupees 25. Later they acquired a foreign firm, "Romar Dan & Company" in 1911, thus becoming the only company in Madras to sell American cars. He was interested in photography and after watching Dadasaheb Phalke’s movies, he desired to make movies.

He learnt the basics of cinematography and film making from Stewart Smith and thus he started his production house "India Film Company" in 1917. He invited more friends to invest money in the film making business and thus established South India's first studio at Chennai. He wrote the script, done cinematography and directed the first south Indian movie - Keechaka Vadham. The film was shot in five weeks in 1917 and released the following year, thus beginning a new history of Indian cinema. The movie was a hit and thus he produced many movies later. But the loss of his son following a fire accident in the sets prompted him to move away from film making.

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Updated: June 27, 2014